Last year, Mayor Greg Lemons counted every single street light in Abita Springs, Louisiana, and found there were 256. If his town of about 2,900 residents switched over to solar-powered lamps and LED bulbs, he reasoned, taxpayers could save thousands of dollars and be environmentally conscious. Street lights are just a part of Lemon’s ambitious plans to make Abita Springs a model of energy efficiency and sustainability. A life-long Republican, he has fought […]

Getting rid of fossil fuels by mid-century and making the switch to large-scale renewable energy sources and nuclear power offers the best chance of meeting the climate change targets set out by the Paris accord, a prominent American economist said Friday.

This story was originally published by Grist and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Bitcoin’s energy footprint has more than doubled since Grist first wrote about it six months ago. It’s expected to double again by the end of the year, according to a new peer-reviewed study out last Wednesday. And if that happens, bitcoin would […]

The new era of big batteries has already drawn scrutiny after fiery electric-car crashes across America and Europe. Now, U.S. city planners are worried about the same risk of hard-to-control blazes as these power-storage units make their way into basements and onto rooftops.

This article appears in the Spring 2018 issue of The American Prospect magazine. Subscribe here .
When the Democratic “blue wall” stretching from Wisconsin through Michigan and Ohio to Pennsylvania fell on November 7, 2016, its breach reflected a growing socioeconomic gulf between the prosperous coastal states and depressed non-metro America. The vast majority of economic growth since 2008 has flowed to the coasts, while the Midwest and rural America have seen spikes in deaths of despair, divorce, an opiate crisis, and a moribund economy.
It wasn’t always like this. Once upon a time, from roughly 1880 to 1980—an era Trump’s white supporters may have in mind when they demand America be Made Great Again—incomes of different regions more nearly converged. Much of U.S. manufacturing and its supply chain was based in the Midwest. Thanks to unionization, a good deal of basic industry paid decent wages. Meanwhile, other industries such as textiles and apparel migrated from New England to the Southeast, raising ...

Colorado lawmakers introduced more than 700 bills in the 2018 legislative session covering a wide range of topics. If you’re wondering what you missed, one line about 101 bills that passed or failed in the 120-day term.